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This is release 0.9.11 of the M�nster Curry compiler.

The M�nster Curry compiler is a mature native code compiler for the
declarative multi-paradigm language Curry. The language supported by
the compiler is compatible with version 0.8.2 of the Curry report
except for some minor differences with respect to the module
system. Many syntax extensions including newtype declarations, infix
data constructors, lazy patterns, and recursive pattern bindings are
available for compatibility with Haskell. Other supported extensions
include existentially quantified data types, disequality constraints,
and I/O exceptions. A distinctive feature of the M�nster Curry
compiler is the integration of a declarative debugger of wrong
answers. An interactive Curry environment and a make-like build tool
for Curry programs are also part of the distribution. A graphical user
interface is available separately for Mac OS X.

The M�nster Curry compiler is portable to many Unix operating systems
with precompiled binaries being available for Linux (x86), Mac OS X,
and eventually other Unix variants. It is possible to build and use
the M�nster Curry compiler on Windows systems using the CygWin and
MinGW environments. The only additional software needed for compiling
and running Curry programs is the Gnu C compiler. Building and
installing the M�nster Curry compiler from its sources requires a
Haskell 98 compiler, too. Building and installing the compiler from
source and binary distributions can be achieved with the commands

  ./configure
  make install

in most cases.

A user's guide describing the installation and usage of the M�nster
Curry compiler in detail is available in html, dvi, and pdf formats in
the doc directory.

Required Software:
==================
In order to compile Curry programs the Gnu C compiler is required.

In order to build the M�nster Curry compiler from its sources, a
Haskell 98 compiler (ghc 4.x, ghc 5.x, ghc 6.x, hbc 0.9999.5b and
nhc98 1.16 or later are known to work) and a modern make command (Gnu
make, BSD make, and Solaris' make command are known to work) are
required.

In order to build and use the M�nster Curry compiler on Windows
system, the CygWin environment must be installed.

Installation on Unix systems:
=============================
The quick way to install the compiler is to unpack the source or
precompiled binary distribution and execute

  ./configure
  make

This will create the commands cyc, cymake, and cyi in the build
directory (source distribution) or the bin subdirectory (binary
distributions). The compiler and associated files can optionally be
installed into the directories /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib/curry,
and /usr/local/man/man1 with the command

  make install

In order to install the compiler to a different directory, e.g.
$HOME/bin, $HOME/lib/curry, and $HOME/man/man1 instead, use

  ./configure --prefix=$HOME
  make install

Don't forget to include $HOME/bin in your PATH and eventually
$HOME/man in MANPATH in latter case.

More options for installation can be found in the user's guide.

Installation on Windows systems:
================================
The M�nster Curry compiler can be built on Windows systems with CygWin
as well as with MinGW.

CygWin:
  In order to build the M�nster Curry compiler with CygWin, the
  development packages (make, gcc) and a working Haskell compiler are
  required. Currently, this appears to work only for the native Win32
  binaries of ghc. The installation instructions below are derived
  from notes kindly provided by Diego Berrueta.

  Note: In the following, <CYGWIN> represents the directory where
  CygWin is installed.

  1) Install the Win32 version of ghc in <CYGWIN>/usr/local/ghc.

  2) Add /usr/local/ghc/bin to the path. Make sure that the executable
     is found by typing ghc -v in the CygWin console. This should
     print out a long list configuration and package information for
     ghc.

  3) Unpack the sources of the M�nster Curry compiler in some
     convenient place and change into the curry-0.9.10 directory.

  4) Configure, compile, and install the compiler:
       ./configure
       make
       make install

  5) Ready to test. Make sure that /usr/local/bin is in your PATH.

MinGW:
  In order to build the M�nster Curry compiler with MinGW, a minimal
  development environment (gcc-core, binutils, mingw-runtime, and
  win32-api) is needed. In addition, the MSYS shell must be installed
  and a working Haskell compiler is required. The compiler can be
  built with the usual commands
    ./configure
    make
    make install
  The last step may be omitted and the compiler can be used from its
  build directory, too. Note that at present, the networking related
  functions from modules IOExts and Socket do not work with MinGW.

Usage:
======
The interactive environment is started with the command

  cyi

At startup, commands from the file .cyirc or ~/.cyirc are interpreted
if these files exist (giving precedence to .cyirc). You can then enter
goals on the command line and load modules into the environment using
the :load command. Note that all free variables must be declared
either in a where clause or by using a let expression as goal.

The Curry compiler is invoked with the command cyc and compiles
and links Curry source files, C source files, assembler files,
and object files into an executable. Its invocation is similar
to that of most other Unix command line compilers. In particular,
the default name of the executable is a.out and option -c stops
processing after generating object files. If you use cyc to link
object files to a program, you must specify the program's main module
with the -M option.

A make-like build tool is also available and can be invoked with
the command cymake.

Compiled programs evaluate the goal main from the main module by
default. A different goal can be selected with the -e option of cyc
and cymake.

For more information about compiler and runtime options read the
user's guide.

Extensions:
===========
* Declarative debugger
  The debugger can be invoked with the :debug command in the
  interactive environment and by compiling a program with the
  --debug option.

* Disequality Constraints
  The operator (=/=) :: a -> a -> Success implements disequality
  constraints between finite data terms. The constraint e1 =/= e2 is
  satisfied when e1 and e2 reduce to different finite data
  terms.

* Existentially Quantified Types
  Existentially quantified types can be introduced with a forall
  clause in a data constructor declaration, e.g.,

    data Key a = forall b . Key b (b -> a)

  Existentially quantified types allow you to construct lists with
  heterogeneous elements, e.g.,

    keys = [Key "123" length, Key 2 (+ 1), Key '\ETX' ord]

* Partial applications in equality and disequality constraints
  It possible to use partial applications in equality and disequality
  constraints. They are handled just like data constructors. For instance,

    let x free in x =:= id (const (2 * 2))

  will succeed an bind x to const 4. However, equality and
  disequality constraints between two partial applications are
  restricted to ground terms. Thus,

    let x free in const x =:= id (const (2 * 2))

  does not bind x to 4, but suspends. This restriction is necessary
  because this extension is not type safe.

* IO Exceptions
  Exceptions are mostly like in Haskell, except that the IOError type
  is currently an alias for String instead of being an abstract data
  type.

  Exceptions in user code can be thrown by passing an exception
  message to the function
    throw :: IOError -> IO a.

  It is possible to catch exceptions with the catch function:
    catch :: IO a -> (IOError -> IO a) -> IO a
  The first argument to catch is the action to be executed and the
  second is the exception handler. When executed catch calls its
  first argument. If this returns normally, the result of catch is
  the same as for the first argument. If an IO exception is raised
  while executing the first argument the exception message is passed
  to the exception handler and the result of the exception handler is
  returned from catch.

* Recursive pattern bindings are supported; this allows defining
  cyclic data structures, e.g.,

    let xs = 0:ys; ys = 1:xs in xs

* Polymorphic Generalization of Let-Bound Variables
  In general, the types of let-bound variables cannot be generalized
  in Curry because this is not sound in the presence of unbound
  logical variables. The M�nster Curry compiler detects some cases
  where the bound expression cannot contain free variables and
  generalizes its type in that case. Thus, the following declarations
  all are now accepted by the compiler (the type signatures are not
  necessary, the annotated types are inferred automatically by the
  compiler).
    f1 = (1:nil, 'a':nil) where { nil :: a; nil = [] }
    f2 = [z (), z False] where { z :: a -> Int; z = const 0 }
    f3 = last (last ["Curry"])
      where last :: [a] -> a
            last = \xs -> let y,ys free in (xs =:= ys++[y]) &> y
  However note that the following variant of f1 is still not accepted
  by the compiler (cf. Sect. 8.1.13 of the User's Guide).
    f4 = (1:nil, 'a':nil) where { nil :: a; nil = id [] }

* Many syntax extensions for compatibility with Haskell. See
  Sect. 8.1 in the User's Guide.

* Many modules from the Haskell standard library (though necessarily
  without overloading) and the Foreign Function Interface addendum.

Bugs -- Limitations:
====================
* Top-level definitions which shadow imported declarations can only be
  accessed by their qualified name. Note that a top-level definition
  in module M can always be referred with a qualified name M.x.

* A hiding clause in an import specification also affects qualified
  imports. E.g. after the declaration import m1(f), the entity f from
  m1 is not accessible in the current module, neither with an
  unqualified reference f nor with a qualified reference m1.f. This
  behavior is consistent with the (revised) Haskell 98 report.

* The compiler fails or enters an infinite loop for programs which
  contain certain kinds of cyclic variable definitions, e.g.,
    bug   = x where x = x
    cycle = x where x = y; y = x

Contact:
========
Wolfgang Lux <wlux@uni-muenster.de>